Tesla paid off the entire balance of DOE loan

Tesla Motors announced today that it paid off the entire balance of its U.S. government loan awarded to the company by the Department of Energy in 2010. What is very interesting is that Tesla paid off the entire balance nine year early, as the deadline was in 2022. "In addition to payments made in 2012 and Q1 2013, today's wire of almost half a billion dollars ($451.8M) repays the full loan facility with interest," said Tesla in a statement.

As a result, Tesla Motors becomes the only American car company to have fully repaid the government [under the DOE program]. The loan was paid using a portion of the approximately $1 billion in funds raised in last week’s concurrent offerings of common stock and convertible senior notes.

Elon Musk a.k.a. Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and cofounder also purchased $100 million of common equity, the least secure portion of the offering.

“I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate,” said Elon Musk. “I hope we did you proud.”